Internet of things

Bacsárdi & Gludovátz, declare that there are many reasons to apply the Internet of Things (IoT) in the Industrial field: "now: the companies can reduce the cost of operation, and prevent the failure or stoppage of the production line in the future, the companies gain extra profit via service-oriented production system and the managers’ needs will be satisfied for easier decision making" (Bacsárdi & Gludovátz, 2017).

According to Zhong et al., the application of the Internet of Things offers advanced connectivity of different physical objects, systems and services that support data transfer, sharing, and communication between objects (Zhong et al., 2017). They declare that IoT can be applied to different industries to achieve the control and automate of objects to create smart objects.

The application of the Internet of Things devices can contribute to the data reading and transferring to the central databases. At the same time, these types of equipment allow the automation of the data entry, which helps in the reduction of data entry errors and data processing time.

63 2.6.9 Autonomous robots

In the past, the application of robots has found a place in manufacturing industries to solve complex problems (Rüßmann et al., 2015). According to Rüßmann et al., nowadays the robots are evolving positively; they will support organizations to become more flexible, autonomous, and cooperative that leads to an entirely new way of working, such as communication between robots or working together with humans’ side by side and learn from them.

According to Fitzgerald and Quasney, the Autonomous Robots are devices that can vary in size, functionality, mobility, or the automation abilities, that can perform tasks without or with minimal intervention or interaction with humans, and they can learn from them or their environment in support of decision making or task performing (Fitzgerald &

Quasney, 2018). They declare that Autonomous Robots in the future will be developed based on five principles: artificial intelligence, navigation, cost reductions, sensor and response capabilities, regulatory reform and public policy. Fitzgerald and Quasney state that the benefits of the autonomous system will add value to the supply chain, with the following potential benefits (Fitzgerald & Quasney, 2018):

➢ Increase efficiency and productivity;

➢ Reduce error, re-work, and risk rates;

➢ Improve safety for employees in high-risk work environments;

➢ Perform lower value, mundane tasks so humans can work collaboratively to focus on more strategic efforts that cannot be automated;

➢ Enhance revenue by improving perfect order fulfillment rates, delivery speed, and, ultimately, customer satisfaction (Fitzgerald & Quasney, 2018).

2.7 Summary

This chapter presents a detailed literature review of the research topic. Initially, the definitions of ERP systems are presented, followed by the evolution of these systems.

Each phase of ERP evolution, including the changes that happened during these phases, are described. In order to analyze the implementation and application of the ERP system as a process, the ERP project lifecycle is studied. Specifically, with a focus on the

64 identification of critical success factors that has an impact on this process. Many researchers have proposed different frameworks of ERP implementation and application.

One of them, Esteves and Pastor frameworks, differs on the six-stage, as they call the retirement stage (Esteves & Pastor, 2001). This is somehow related to the achievement of ERP maturity and the need of the organization to go further in the digitalization in order to fulfill the organization's requirements. This chapter presents critical success factors that have an impact on the implementation and application of ERP systems, with a focus on analyzing the ERP selection, implementation, and benefits of the application.

Furthermore, the relationship between the business processes and implementation and application of ERP systems is analyzed considering the frameworks that support IT governance. Also, previous maturity models in general and specifically for ERP systems are analyzed and presented. The previous models are very complex to be used by the organization also, with the new rapid technological changes, it was necessary to be developed an ERP maturity model that supports organizations on the current wave of technology. On the other hand, the definition and technologies of Industry 4.0 are well analyzed. This chapter enabled to create the basis in support of the research topic.

65 3 METHODOLOGY

The quality of this research depends on several aspects, such as the research combination of literature along with the field survey and the selection of the appropriate research methodology. This research has determined the statement of the problem, aims and objectives, the research questions and hypotheses, methodology selection, and application of the best methods that suit and provide the current state of ERP systems and Industry 4.0. The objectives of this thesis are to identify if the strategic use of IT has an impact on the process of ERP vendor selection, implementation and application, as well as to study what is the relationship between different stages of implementation and application of ERP system and business performance. At the same time, the study aims to analyze if ERP application can be used to predict the readiness of an organization for Industry 4.0. In order to achieve the best results and fulfill the aim and objectives of the study, the best practices are used in close cooperation with the thesis mentor.

Below are the steps that are followed closely to layout the design, development, and implementation methodology for the completion of the study.

➢ Identification of the research undertaking;

➢ Literature review;

➢ Problem statement;

➢ Definition of the research aims and objectives;

➢ Definition of the research methodology;

➢ Development of the research methods and research instruments;

➢ Design of the questionnaire;

➢ Data gathering through the survey;

➢ Verification of data reliability and validity;

➢ Data processing and analysis;

➢ Results assessment and analyzes;

➢ Conclusions, contributions, and research recommendations.

66 3.1 Research design

After the literature is reviewed, it is deemed necessary to develop and design the central research questions. Ensuring the research is on the right track, it is considered essential to be harmonized with the literature on existing frameworks about the ERP systems to deliver unbiased results. Below are further details for the work methodology and thorough process in developing the research questions that would be entirely appropriate related to the design of the study that will be described below about the development of the questionnaire and model. The research questions are tailored to provide a clear understanding of the ERP system implementation and application in Kosovo, to validate and check the reliability of the proposed model for ERP system implementation and application.

It is understood that the intention of this research is to develop a maturity model for implementation and application of ERP systems, and at the same time to see if there is any relationship between the ERP application with the readiness of the organizations for the Industry 4.0 and the impact of Industry 4.0 to the ERP approach. The selection of Kosovo has been seen as an opportunity because of the data collection. Table 8 presents the research questions of the study and the source of the data.

Table 8 Research questions of the study.

Nr. Research questions Source

RQ1 What is the relationship between ERP selection, ERP implementation and ERP application with the

organization’s IT Strategy?

Primary data

RQ2 What is the impact of ERP selection on ERP implementation and application?

Primary data

RQ3 Does the ERP implementation have an impact on the ERP Application?

Primary data

RQ4 Is there any significant evidence that ERP application has a positive impact on organization performance?

Primary data

67 RQ5 What is the impact of Industry 4.0 on the ERP systems

approach?

Secondary data

While the research hypotheses of the study are:

Table 9 Research hypotheses

H1 Main Hypothesis Strategic use of IT significantly and positively affects ERP Implementation

H1.1 Sub-Hypothesis Strategic use of IT significantly and positively affects ERP Selection

H1.2 Sub-Hypothesis Strategic use of IT significantly and positively affects ERP Application

H2 Main Hypothesis Appropriate ERP Selection has a positive impact on ERP Application

H2.1 Sub-Hypothesis Appropriate ERP Selection has positive impact on ERP Implementation

H3 Main Hypothesis ERP Implementation has a significant and positive impact on ERP Application

H3.1 Sub-Hypothesis ERP Application has a positive impact on Performance Indicators

H4 Main Hypothesis ERP Application can support organization to evaluate their readiness for Industry 4.0

3.2 Research plan

This study starts by analyzing and organizing existing research through secondary data (published papers, from academia, industry, and other data sources) to review and understand the current situation on the ERP systems in general. During the literature review, the focus was on identifying the factors that have an impact on the implementation and application of ERP systems, strategic use of IT, and the actual models of measuring the maturity of ERP systems. The Webster and Watson approach for literature review served as an appropriate approach for gaining comprehensive insights (Webster & Watson, 2002). The literature was collected from electronic databases, like

68 ScienceDirect, EBSCO, SpringerLink, and other databases with the focus on Information Systems, Computer Sciences, and Business Management. Besides academic scholar publishing, the study has also taken opinions from the industry side where often reports play an essential role in enriching the knowledge that comes from the industry know-how that cannot be ignored even though the study is purely academically based. On the other hand, to answer the research questions and hypotheses, it was necessary to undertake primary research in Kosovo organizations related to the maturity of ERP systems and their awareness about the Industry 4.0 to achieve the aim and objectives of this thesis.

Primary data collection is done by using a questionnaire and quantitative research methodology.

The questionnaire is developed according to the Dillman approach. He declares that there are three types of data variables: opinion variable (what enterprises think), behavior (what people did in the past, do now or will do in the future), and attribute (characteristics such as age, gender, education, income, etc.) (Dillman, 2007). The questions in the questionnaire will try to answers the research questions and validate the research hypotheses.

According to Dillman, data collection from questionnaires is classified into two options:

Self-administered (internet-mediated questionnaires, mail questionnaires) or Interviewer-administered (structured interviewers where the data are collected face to face) (Dillman, 2007). In this study, both of the options are used to collect the data. Data analysis is done in the R software.

Often during the field surveys of organizations, a significant concern is how to obtain the willingness of the companies/individuals to participate in the study. In our case, ERP system implementation and application, the whole number of organizations in a specific sector is always hard to fully define for many reasons such as their respective location, lack of readiness to participate in the survey, data confidentiality, competition, and many other reasons. The questionnaire has been tailored specifically for this survey and available in both languages, Albanian and English, bearing in mind that the questionnaire has been approved by the thesis mentor. To ease the process further, the questionnaire is created using Google forms and sent to organizations through a link (also a word/excel

69 has been developed for companies that operate in a traditional format). The questions are expected to take approximately an average of 16 to 20 minutes.

3.3 Questionnaire development

The questionnaire design mainly has been based on the three identified maturity models and frameworks of ERP lifecycle earlier done by different researchers in existing articles;

however, their scope and extensibility are limited; therefore, it was necessary to create a modified framework including research questions. Most of the questions are taken from existing maturity models such as those proposed by Holland and Light, specifically for the Strategic use of IT; Parthasarathy & Ramachandran; Scanzo, also some critical factors are converted into question based on the previous studies and the impact they have on specific phase during the decision for ERP implementation and during the implementation and application phases (Holland & Light, 2001; Parthasarathy &

Ramachandran, 2008; Scanzo, 2011). Also, questions based on the ERP industry reports are generated. The determination of stages of ERP implementation and application is done based on the identified ERP lifecycle as they are described in the literature review, while the main focus was on Esteves and Pastor ERP lifecycle implementation and application stages (Esteves & Pastor, 2001). The questionnaire consisted of appropriate questions related to ERP systems implementation and application, and Industry 4.0.

Existing frameworks have been reviewed based on literature to draw the best applicable approach. Because the questionnaire is developed from the beginning, it is required to check the reliability of the questionnaire, presented the Questionnaire Reliability sub-chapter. The questionnaire contains seven sections with questions: General Questions, Strategic use of IT, ERP Selection, ERP Implementation, ERP Application, Performance Indicators, and Industry 4.0.

Initially, the weight of the questions are equal, and after the data gathering and evaluation based on the methods mentioned in the section where the maturity model has been proposed, the weight of each item of the model was recalculated. The organization is asked to provide a self-evaluation of their current ERP implementation and application.

During the questionnaire analyses and design, several factors were considered and available as to what model to utilize. Likert scale type model that was developed in the principle of measuring attitudes about a specific topic and if participants agreed with them

70 (McLeod, 2008). These are scales of agreement or disagreement in a linear form where organizations interviewed can strongly disagree to strongly agree. The choices are offered on five scales, seven or even nine, but must always bear a neutral point meaning nor agreeing or disagreeing (McLeod, 2008).

The Likert scale model has been extensively used by many researchers, more specifically applied to measure character and personality traits (Likert, 1932). Due to a rigorous research approach by measuring and delivering specific results, Likert created a procedure offering attitudinal scales that included such as below (Likert, 1932):

1 – Strongly approve 2 – Approve

3 – Undecided 4 - Disapprove

5 - Strongly disapprove

Furthermore, five Likert type scale model utilized:

1. Strongly disagree 2. Disagree

3. Neutral 4. Agree

5. Strongly Agree

Table 10 Likert scale questionnaire

Strongly response option was as follows:

71 Table 11 Industry 4.0 response options

Not planned answering yes/no but giving a significant degree of opinion expression, and quantitative data is received and analyzed (McLeod, 2008).

The questionnaire design dates from 2018; however, intensive work has been coordinated with the thesis mentor beginning of 2019. Nevertheless, the research framework has been drafted and approved back in 2018.

3.4 Questionnaire reliability

At the initial stage, the preliminary reliability test was conducted using a pilot sample (n=19 participants). The results are reported in Table 12.

Table 12 Reliability analysis results

Constructs Number of items

included in the construct “ERP Application”) to 0.82 (“ERP Implementation”), exceeding the level 0.70

72 recommended by Nunnally (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1978). Thus, the internal consistency of all used constructs measured by Cronbach’s alphas is acceptable.

Further, item-total (correlation between an item and a subscale), item-rest (correlation between item and subscale with the item dropped), and inter-item (average), among items within the subscale) correlation was investigated in Table 13. Table 13 indicates six problematic items (2.6 An external ERP consultant is involved in the evaluation team, 4.4 Communication between the departments is digitalized and efficient, 4.5 Easier job for employees, 4.8 The organization has successfully adopted business changes and their supporting processes (people, IT, culture, etc.), 5.6 Organization achieved the goals to create new innovative product/services, 5.8 Availability of information and better decision-making, 6.2 Robots) with correlation with the rest of the items < 0.30 and average inter-item correlation lower acceptable level 0.15 proposed by Clark and Watson (Clark & Watson, 1995). The decision about these items will be made when further data are collected, based on Chronbach’s Alphas are acceptable, and inter-item correlation is lower but near 0.15.

Table 13 Item-total and item-rest correlation within the constructs

Items n Item-total

1.0 Strategic use of IT 1.1 IT and Business

73

1.6 The organization has a clear vision of ERP have a strong portfolio in terms of technical and

74

2.8 Organization has run a

pre-implementation pilot 19 0.59 0.50 0.31 4.63 0.50 well trained to accept the changes for the best practices for a new ERP system

19 0.77 0.67 0.44 3.58 0.84

3.4 The implementation partner can bridge the gap between the existing workflow and new ERP

19 0.59 0.47 0.30 3.79 0.71

75 and apply the ERP system

19 0.51 0.35 0.22 4.26 0.56

76 terms of sales and market share

19 0.46 0.30 0.16 3.47 0.61

5.6 Organization achieved the goals to create new innovative

77

Based on Table 13, two items (3.1 The scope and objectives are clearly identified by the implementation team and 6.9 Virtual Reality or Augmented Reality) should be excluded from the final questionnaire. The first item 3.1 The scope and objectives which are clearly identified by the implementation team, have a low inter-item correlation (0.03). The second item, 6.9 Virtual Reality or Augmented Reality, is negatively correlated with the rest of the items. So, these items are inconsistent with the rest of the items from the corresponding subscales. For a better understanding of the relationship between the items, the mentioned item will be not removed until all the data are gathered and the final analysis is done.

78 Finally, the average score for each construct was calculated as the mean of the item scores within each subscale. Figure 4 displays correlation coefficients among all constructs.

Figure 4 Correlation among constructs (preliminary results)

As shown in Figure 4, all correlation coefficients are lower than threshold 0.85, indicating no significant overlap between the constructs Awang, supporting discriminant validity (Awang, 2014).

3.5 Field survey

Selecting an area is always a challenge due to many practical reasons, such as access to companies as well as measuring current trends of development. The selection of the Kosovo region has been seen as an excellent opportunity for this specific study because of the diversity of the organizations also the development phases that the organizations reached last 20 years, and the technological changes they have faced during this time,

79 including migrating to ERP systems. Because some organizations are limited in the scale of knowledge in terms of ERP systems, a careful approach has been carried out in selecting organizations that fit well with the application, knowledge, and respective benefits that ERP systems offer.

3.6 Sample size determination

Sample size determination is essential when applying the quantitative method. The confidence level in terms of acceptance is usually at around 90%, 95%, and 99%. The margin of errors or widely accepted terminology confidence interval may range from 1%

to 8%, but also may be the researcher's decision on many factors influencing the study or inability to obtain the response/feedback from the targeted audience. For the real numbers of the organizations that apply ERP systems are not fully known, however, based on the contact with the companies who implement ERP systems in Kosovo, it is estimated that there are between 170 – 200 organizations that are fully functional on ERP system implementation and application. The number of new business ventures of opening business and closing usually happens very fast as mainly they are small-sized industry and primarily family-based. The bottom line, since the exact numbers cannot be determined precisely, this can be summarized as N = 176 (number of population size).

Due to many limits in the confidence level has been taken as 90% and the confidence interval (margin of error) as 6%. The questionnaire has been sent to the 148 companies, and only 91 respondents have answered, therefore, meeting the criteria and categorized as per the above explanation.

Due to many limits in the confidence level has been taken as 90% and the confidence interval (margin of error) as 6%. The questionnaire has been sent to the 148 companies, and only 91 respondents have answered, therefore, meeting the criteria and categorized as per the above explanation.

In document Supervisor: Katalin Ternai Ph.D. (Pldal 62-0)